With the increasingly greater threat of biological weapons, it is desirable to provide a warning when bioagents are present. The presence of bioagents within the air or at a particular location may indicate the presence of a biological threat, as well as the possible deployment of a biological weapon. Many conventional bioagent-detection systems have an unacceptably high false-alarm rate. The use of such conventional systems may result in unnecessary precautions and possibly panic.
Many conventional systems for detecting bioagents are also large and cumbersome, and some systems use a point-detection scheme. Some of these systems include point sensors which generally require large collection devices, such as air concentrators, that operate within the presence of a potential biological threat.
Some other conventional bioagent-detection systems utilize standoff detection techniques, which attempt to detect the presence of a bioagent from a distance. Many of these standoff detection systems are large and cumbersome, some have poor efficiency, and some are generally not robust enough for field use.
Thus there are general needs for systems and methods that provide improved bioagent detection. There are also needs for improved standoff bioagent-detection systems and methods that permit bioagent detection without the need to be present within the potential biological threat. There are also needs for bioagent-detection systems and methods that are more accurate and have a low false-alarm rate. There are also needs for bioagent-detection systems and methods that are compact, more efficient and robust, and may be implemented in hand-held devices.